A minor prophet is one of the writings in the Twelve Prophets section of the Hebrew Bible, also known to Christians as the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. Twelve individuals had their names attributed to a section of the Hebrew Bible which has become known by the Aramaic term as the Trei Asar ("Twelve") in traditional Jewish editions and "Books of the Minor Prophets" or the "Minor Prophets" in Christian editions.

In the Hebrew Bible the writings of the minor prophets are counted as a single book, in Christian Bibles as twelve individual books. The "Twelve" are listed below in order of their appearance in Hebrew and Western Christian bibles:

• Hosea
• Joel
• Amos
• Obadiah
• Jonah
• Micah
• Nahum
• Habakkuk
• Zephaniah
• Haggai
• Zechariah
• Malachi

The Septuagint of the eastern churches has the order: Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, the rest as above. It also puts the "Minor Prophets" before, instead of after, the "Major prophets".

Recent biblical scholarship has focused on reading the "Book of the Twelve" as a unity.

The term "minor" refers to the length of the books, not their importance. See Major Prophets for the longer books of prophecies in the Bible and the Tanakh.

The twelve minor prophets are collectively commemorated in the Calendar of saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 31.

In the Roman Catholic Church, the twelve minor prophets are read in the Breviary during the fourth and fifth weeks of November, which are the last two weeks of the liturgical year.

See also

• Prophet
• Major prophet
• Books of the Bible
• Biblical prophecy
• List of Biblical prophets

References

2. Schart, Aaron: Die Entstehung des Zwölfprophetenbuchs. Neubearbeitungen von Amos im Rahmen schriftenübergreifender Redaktionsprozesse. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft de Gruyter 260, Berlin New York, 1998, 3-11-016078-1 3-11-016078-1

External links

• Prophetic Midrash: Stories about prophets from ancient and modern sources

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